I mean who would argue with that, though a good point was made that perhaps you are too much landing in the realm of opinion. Especially for DOS2, because reviews, critical and consumer, as well as in the good fun of capitlaism, the money points that you can say what you like but its hard to argue that the game isn't great, and writing is more than dialogue, especially if you consider authors like James Joyce.
But on another note, I would like to point out that you are wrong about Betacam losing to VHS. TV never abandoned Betacam, it was only abondoned as a consumer medium most likely because of costs, but it stayed a professional medium well into the 90s, and in many ways outlived VHS as CDs adn DVDs took the market from VHS, but never made inroads into the professional market. Here is an even better analogy, companies like Sony never abandoned tape, and innovated HDCAM tape which became the one and only delivery for professional video to television networks. They kept innovating and moving forward with the technology where US companies abandoned it, and eventually took over the market completely. Fun fact when the Tsunami hit Japan it wiped out Sony's only factory that made HDCAM SR tapes, and there was a panic in TV production because networks wouldn't accept anything else, post production facilities were hoarding them. Of course even this technology is considered old now, and now there is LTO tape ... so I get your point but maybe the Joyce was a better analogy. I mean DOS2 did innovate a lot with there gaming systems and it seemed to have won the day.

Well, I did read the Twilight Books so not sure what that says about what is considered entertainment, or my taste, but if you want to discuss the ultimate entertainment that leaves you drooling ... I would say it is Henry Cavill with his shirt off with cat eyes

Heck yeah and I haven't been on crack for 14 years thank god! That first area of DOS2 on the island and getting off it was hella fun!! I mean it wasn't as nuanced as the Shadowrun story of course or as seamless as the Dragon Age stories, but still the quests and the setup, the exploration, everything was amazing, but its one of those things where you can say it sucks, but unfortunately the sales and popularity make a good case that it didn't ... so if they can get that synergy between action, quest, character, and combat going again the game is gonna be really good.
As for you @Wormerine 40 hours is pretty slim ...

Yes except the only good thing about the Witcher 3 were the cinematic story elements (and not Geralt putting his tadpole in everyone), the ending and maybe exploration. And first-person shooters is too much Up,Down,Up,Down,A,B,A,B Left, Right,Select.
I am going to go out on a limb here and say DOS2 did a masterful job of creating, writing and implementing a story that pretty much took the cake that year, so not sure everyone's criticism is really valid in that area. And I don't just mean the dialogue writing. I believe for this forum at least Obsidian has the upper hand when putting up walls of text to read which I do love about Obsidian games, they do have superior writers, but if anything Larian proved they can write great storylines and great adventures, fun quests and amazing games. Also, not a co-op player and if you think DOS2 is only popular because of co-op you are totally wrong, the game is a great single player game. Plus with Wizards of the Coast onboard I feel like this is gonna be a good one.
And just to be clear I am one of the staunchest defenders of POE2 as a great game too so I am not biased towards Larian or against Obsidian.

Anyone else reading the update blogs on the kickstarter campaign? They are pretty awesome, and get into the game programming-side if you are interested in that king of stuff This one is pretty good:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/owlcatgames/pathfinder-wrath-of-the-righteous/posts/2765209

What I saw in the preview was the next generation of isometric RPGs - 3D-esque worlds, cinematics, another level of reactivity, the return of turn-basad combat - I wouldn't be surprised if Dragon Age 4 has its sights on incorporating the idea of vertical world building, and possibly turn-based combat. Whether you like them or not I think they are here to stay, and I am happy that they keep pushing the boundaries of the technology and possibilities. I mean who wouldn't want to be a captive in Sword Art Online ...
Yeah I didn't get a chance to watch the whole thing, just caught the end of it live. At least there's a reason, and I knew it would be hard to them to get away from some of the DOS2 stuff, at least they have a camping mechanic. Now if they can just get a bathroom mechanic and proper penalty going for even more realism ...

The jumping looked king of strange definitely, I was so hoping Larian moved away from the super human feats ... I mean who can jump that far??? I do kind of dig being able to push someone off a ledge though ... and 100 percent for turn-based and character building in the D&D style. I just hope we can design a full party on our own to play through the campaign, damn BG series for taking that away and replacing it with Minsc ...

Well, first and I know this won't be popular, but never was impressed with BG2 writing, but I will say that people love it and the characters, an people definitely rank it as a top RPG so no argument there. I think there were a handful of quests I really loved about in BG2, but something about knowing what really went down in the Time of Troubles, left the ending of BG2 very flat and contrived for me. It setup this amazing storyline that driveled into irrelevance about an angry elf, and then they tried to fix that with the expansion that didn't do a very good job.
But in terms of what RPGs it doesn't stack too - well in terms of world-building the Dragon Age series definitely wins, in terms of writing Witcher 3 or Shadowrun might be my favorite, in terms of combat POE, and again I know this won't be a popular answer but you have to give me this one just because the game is so popular - DOS2's combat is way better than anything BG - I would even add with the turn-based mod PK is better combat. As for memorable characters, I actually think PK's characters are better than BG2's, but again I am biased and I always was really annoyed with BG2's characters and yes no one will agree so no real reason to argue about it. In terms of quests individual quest stories I think POE does as good of job if not better.
So maybe yes there hasn't really been a game that has combined all the best elements into a single game as BG2 did when it released, but many games have come close, DOS2 for one came very close, Dragon Age 3 came very close, even POE came pretty close, and all three of those games incorporate the best of BG2 so they are if not better, they are as good and way more enjoyable to play as they incorporate so many cool new features, each in there own way.
Partly too I just love bucking BG2 because in my heart the Ultima series is still the pinnacle of computer gaming

Okay totally posting am pumped for this game. the fact they are offering a TB mode sealed the deal. Funny, PK is so pretty close to the tabletop game in rules that with the TB mod it feels way more balanced than in RtWP mode - and I am guessing that PWoTR is gonna be the same. Anyway how can you not be pumped for this game, my only worry is the strategy section of the game where you build armies and such, this could really be a letdown, or it could be really cool, but I don't normally buy RPGs to play strategy games so not sure how much it will interest me. They eventually got the Kingdom management in a good place for PK, I am playing now with the goal to finish it this time (and with the TB mod), and it is pretty enjoyable and fun, so maybe I am worried about the strategy aspect for nothing and it will be good ...

It looks like Larian wants to make it a AAA title from there newest video release, which would be amazing, just finished playing Dragon Age 1 and 3 for my first time and they were truly enjoyable, so I am all for the cinematic scenes. I am finally catching up on all the RPGs for the past 12 years or so, and I am just gonna be honest, BG2 was never a game that broke any barriers or did anything that different, it just took the best of what games did in the past and combined them all in one, and it doesn't even hold a candle to the newer RPGs, add to that RtWP was such a hassle to get used to it almost killed the experience for me, I am happy games are offering both options these days as I prefer turn-based.
Larian is gonna do a great job on this game, but I do believe the biggest criticisms are gonna come from them diverging from the combat mechanics of the tabletop version ... Larian had to much success with DOS2 for them to fully step away from the combat experience they created, which was pretty fun.